Matt Hayes

Matt seem to come in for a lot of stick on FM -why is this?

As a purely pleasure angler myself I've watch him on TV and seen him at a couple of angling shows and he comes across ok to me. Like I say I'm a pleasure angler but to me he seems to know what he's talking about and he's a decent TV presenter.

Is his self publicity that people object to - he does push TFG but then you'd push your company if you got chance and he does state that he TFG is his company so he's bound to use there products but there are other companies making tackle that is as good.

The red colour can't be seen underwater by fish may be a bit hard to swallow!

What has he done in the past that has upset so many on FM? Few people on here have a good word to say about him

Tally Ho

He hasn't done anything much to upset anyone, but it's a British tradition to knock someone who's made a name for themselves. I'm sure he sees it all as a compliment.

Quite right Graham, there is no such thing as bad publicity, not matter which quarter it comes from.

Although I would like to see him involved in debates about fishing like Walker was.

jealousy

I don't knock him, I only ask questions about him.
Animnosity is in the eye of the beholder.

Just seems to me that one or two people on here seem to have a grudge against him and was wondering why

Tally Ho

Bit like casting over the half way mark then ,Baz?

Another thread about his email address seemed to hint that people didn't think much of him or maybe I was miss reading the situation

Tally Ho

No, you were reading it right M'lud, but it would be more interesting to read a full explanation from them as to why they don't like him.

Some would struggle rather badly to offer one that made much sense.

That what I was hoping someone would come on here and say.

People seem to drop hints that he's not as good an angler as he appears on TV - but all those programmes take hours to films and some pre baiting is doen for the teely.

Tally Ho

Nowt wrong in pre-baiting before the camera rolls. Don't a lot of us do that anyway?
Des doesn't need to though, he is that good.

Lord Paul

I will admit to an amount of carping over Matt Hayes in the past, not so much a pathological hatred of the bloke himself, but of the 'special relationship' he has enjoyed with Angling Times with regard to blatant product placement of TFG equipment.

Without trying to sound too paranoid, TFG products featured it AT's tackle review around 35 times out of 50 odd issues last year. Either these products are the No.1 sellers throughout the land (not backed up by AT's own surveys) or a disproportionate amount of exposure is being given to this particular brand, you can draw your own conclusions.

As to the man himself, I believe he comes across as an entertaining front man for the angling TV programmes that he presents, but surely someone who spends that much time on TV (and has made that much money from TV) would have had his teeth fixed by now....?

Good point about TFG in AT what ho

Yes he is entertaining on TV and can catch a few fish, is the reason why some dislike him his wonky tooth?

Tally Ho

i think its all a conspiracy started by mick brown as a form of revenge for all the times matt has belittled him , on the shows they do.

personally i can not understand what people have against him ,he's sometimes funny ,doesn't always catch , his enjoyment of fishing always comes across and his friendship with mick brown is obvious ,and he has a definite screen presence which a lot of good angler's who make video's ect don't.

but his "sharks tooth" is his trademark just as John Wilsons is his adorable laugh !

Good point Chavender though some times a "trademark" saying can get a bit tiresome

What Ho

If all the people who 'knock' Matt Hayes were in the same position as him ,they would do exactly the same as he does

Do you mean to tell me that if they could get a bit of coverage for their products they wouldn't bother

(I think it all comes down to a little bit of the green eyed jealousy .......)

Ed

'Getting a bit of coverage for their products' in relationship to AT/TFG is like comparing Agent Orange to a little light pruning.

Neither Des Taylor nor Bob Nudd have enjoyed anything like as much exposure (product placement) for the tackle companies they are involved with, although they are regular contributors to AT

How does that work?

Matt promotes the sport very well these days and good luck to him in his career, my problem with Matt stemmed from the early days when he just appeared from nowhere and suddenly started writing informational pieces which appeared to be based on things he had read and/or assumed and not on practical experience, other inexperienced writers are also guilty of this from time to time and it is one of my bug bears in that less experienced anglers read these things and act on them. Matt once wrote a chub piece in one of the magazines advocating problems he had had while chub fishing and he was experiencing bite offs while using monofilament lines, he suggested changing to braid to solve the problem, I challenged his comments in the magazine and told him that we had experienced much of this while carp fishing in the 1970s while particle fishing and we alleviated the problem by reducing the size of the hook length, because what was happening was that the chub/carp were feeding too confidently and the hook was passing below the pharyngeal teeth and this could lead to fatalities when the hook could engage with essential organs, the welfare of the quarry must always come first.

Matt?s response to my letter caused me much concern, he complimented me for my thinking, but then went on to say that he didn?t wish to start casting 3oz bolt rigs into shoals of timid chub. I responded again to his comments pointing out that we were not using bolt rigs in the 1970s and by suggesting that if an angler is experiencing bite offs on monofilament line, he should not encourage this by substituting his monofilament to a braid to prevent this occurring, he should simply shorten his hook length or use an alternative design to prevent the hook length going beyond the pharyngeal teeth and causing potential damage. Sadly my second response was not published in that particular magazine but I later went on to publish an article based on this line of thinking in one of the David Hall?s magazines. I think I called it Beyond the Pharyngeal, can?t remember the magazine though (early 90s I think?

I think in Matt?s earlier days he had a tendency to write from what he had read and not through experience and he didn?t appear to have a sound knowledge of the development of the sport.

Thanks Monk

That was a well writen written reply and gives some idea as to what caused the animosity towards MH. Anyone else care to tell?

Tally Ho